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The first of two key time trials at this year’s Tour comes the day after the epic summit of Mt Ventoux, with the difficult 37.5 kilometre test from Bourg-Saint-Andeol to La Caverne du Pont-d-Arc ahead of the riders today.
The general classification riders will not mind the parcours of this time trial, with two key climbs on the route giving them the chance for success.
From the start of the stage, the road will immediately travel onto the first climb of the day, the Cote de Bourg-Saint-Andeol. The climb is seven kilometres and averages around five per cent, which will make it a climb that even the time trial specialists can handle fairly well.
It is then around 15 kilometres of flat roads before the riders descend along fairly flowing roads before hitting the final 15 kilometres of the stage.
The final climb will rise all the way to the finish, with the La Caverne du Pont-d-Arc averaging five per cent for 3.3 kilometres.
As I mentioned earlier, the climbs on today’s stage will suit riders like Tony Martin and Rohan Dennis, as they are not particularly steep. I expect these two gentlemen, alongside both Tom Dumoulin and Fabian Cancellera, to play a major part in the chase for the stage victory today.
Rohan Dennis took out the opening day time trial at last year’s Tour, upstaging Dumoulin in his home country. The Australian has ridden two flat time trials in races this year, taking the win at both the Australian National Champs, and on Stage 6 of the Amgen Tour of California.
Dutchmen Dumoulin took the opening day stage at the Giro on home roads, while also recently taking the win at his national championships before the start of the Tour. So far in the race, he took a stunning win to the top of the Aralias on Stage 9, showing that his climbing legs are in good form, which he will need out on today’s route.
Fabian Cancellera will be looking to take some glory in his final Tour. He has a total of seven stage wins at the Tour, with the last being in 2012. He comes into the Tour off the back of an opening day win in the prologue, and a third on the final day time trial at the Tour De Suisse, and also taking out the Swisstime trialChamps a week later.
His greatest rival in the time trials over the last ten years has been German Tony Martin, who only has the one win in time trials this year, being his win at the German national championships. However, you can never rule him out.
In terms of the general classification men, both Richie Porte and Chris Froome should dominate, given their previous performances in the discipline, however, the man that the majority of fans will be hoping that has a good ride is Movistar’s Nairo Quintana.
If there is a major weakness for the Colombian, it would be his performances against the clock; however, he comes to the Tour off the back of a stage win in the time trial at the Route de Sud in mid June. This backs up top ten time trialing performances from the Tour of Romandie and the Tour of the Basque Country.
Froome on the other hand has great time trialling pedigree, having won the final time trial (Stage 17) of the 2013 Tour, while finishing second behind Tony Martin on the first time trial (Stage 11) of the same edition.
Porte finished fourth in the time trial at the 2010 World Champs.
Other riders to look out for include World Time Trial Champion Vasil Kiryenka (Team Sky), Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), Marcej Bodnar (Tinkoff), Jerome Coppel (IAM Cycling) and Luke Durbridge (Orica BikeExchange).
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